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A prison built to focus on rehabilitation programs and slash reoffending is failing to live up to its promise, with four out of 10 inmates winding up back in jail within two years of being released.
In a report tabled in state parliament on Tuesday, Auditor-General Andrew Greaves warned that almost a decade after it was opened, the $670 million Ravenhall Correctional Centre had failed to make a dent in reoffending rates, and in some cases the prison’s recidivism rate was higher than that of other male prisons.
The report also revealed Victorian taxpayers were paying on average almost $600 a day for every prisoner in the state.
Greaves found the privately run Ravenhall facility had a 38.3 per cent reoffending rate, compared with the 36.6 per cent average for other adult male prisons.
“Despite its different rehabilitation and reintegration approach, Ravenhall’s overall results for reducing reoffending fall short of performance targets and are similar to other Victorian adult male prisons,” the report said.
There were almost 6600 prisoners across 16 adult jails in Victoria as of June last year.
Greaves also warned that some high-risk inmates could be missing crucial opportunities for rehabilitation because they were not receiving the programs they need at the prison, operated by the GEO Group Australia.
Delays for rehabilitation programs have also blown out. More than 960 Ravenhall prisoners are on waiting lists and inmates wait on average 111 days to begin treatment.
The centre was opened in late 2017 in an effort to keep pace with the state’s rapidly rising prison population, which has soared following a decade-long series of tough-on-crime changes to bail, parole and sentencing laws.
It was revealed in 2015, that the prison’s private operators may be paid up to $2 million in bonuses if able to reduce inmates’ reoffending rates.
GEO’s target was to reduce recidivism by 12 per cent for sentenced prisoners generally and 14 per cent for sentenced Indigenous prisoners, targets it has failed to meet.
Greaves said the only area where Ravenhall appeared to be improving reoffending rates was among First Nations prisoners. The reoffending rate was 34.6 per cent at the centre compared with the state average of 42.8 per cent.
The audit also found Ravenhall’s rehabilitation and reintegration programs had not been independently probed since the prison opened in 2017.
Greaves warned that the state government’s new bail changes would only worsen the grim situation inside Victorian prisons, which hav been facing mounting pressure due to population increases.
“These changes may result in an increased need for prisoner places, adding strain to the system’s existing resources,” he wrote in the report.
Greaves said that while it was too early to assess the impact of the current bail changes, a Sentencing Advisory Council report from last year found the proportion of remand prisoners had increased over the past two decades.
People on remand now make up about 39 per cent of Victoria’s adult male prison population.
It was revealed in March last year that so many people are expected to be remanded under Victoria’s proposed bail laws that some of the changes will be introduced later so that corrections staff can be hired to cope with the influx.
Late last year, Corrections Victoria Assistant Commissioner Jenny Hosking admitted to a suburban magistrate’s court that the system was under “massive pressure” due to the bail changes, as a rise in custody numbers led to dozens of inmates missing hearings every day.
The state government and the GEO Group Australia has been contacted for comment.
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Melissa Cunningham is a crime and justice reporter for The Age. She has previously covered health.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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